Daniel Campbell of Shawfield (1670-1753) was the second son of Walter Campbell, Captain of Skipness in Argyllshire. At the age of twenty-two he went to New England and became a successful merchant and shipowner, even though Scots were excluded from the Atlantic trades. On settling in Glasgow he built up a large trade with Sweden in tobacco, which he exchanged for iron ore. He engaged in the slave trade and became an early financier.
Closely connected to the Duke of Argyll, he was elected MP for Inveraray in the Scottish Parliament in 1702 and voted for the Union in 1707. He bought the estate of Shawfield to the east of Glasgow and built a fine mansion house on the north side of the Trongate. He served as MP for the Glasgow Burghs from 1716 to 1734 and became a figure of considerable importance. According to a contemporary he "far surpassed all his brothers in business capacity". He was nicknamed "Great Daniel" on account of both his size and great wealth.
In 1725 he voted for the unpopular tax on malt which had expressly not been extended to Scotland at the Union. With the connivance of the Town Council, the mob attacked and burned his home. Parliament awarded him damages of £9,000, which was recovered from the city. Two years later he sold Shawfield and purchased the island of Islay off the west coast. During the 1745 rising he raised a company of militia at his own expense to support the government. He died in 1752.
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